Businesses now have just three months to upgrade their technology systems for voice and broadband connections or risk falling behind and face serious restrictions.
Experts from TelephoneSystems.Cloud have urged UK businesses to upgrade their old legacy telephone systems before they get trapped in their legacy setup in September.
As part of the Big Switch - which will see the switch off of all analogue phone systems in the UK in two years time - many providers are currently phasing out all legacy lines, with the aim of moving all customers onto digital based systems.
September’s Stop Sell deadline means providers will cease selling these traditional phone lines, meaning those who fail to upgrade risk normal operations and falling behind.
In three months' time, businesses will no longer be able to make any changes to their old legacy telephone systems, trapping them with their current size and setup.
This is specifically important to those companies moving into new offices, as they will be limited now to only digital installations and can no longer move their old phone systems to new offices.
For example, this autumn those on analogue systems will not be able to amend broadband bandwidth capacity, restart any stopped phone lines, nor amend direct dialling in (DDI) ranges.
Other cancelled changes in three months time include mitigating to non-ultrafast products, increasing or decreasing ISDN channels, converting single lines to multi-lines (and vice versa).
Experts are urging businesses to upgrade from analogue to digital based lines now, else risk falling behind and not having the ability to amend their current systems. SImply tasks such as adding a new employee to an ISDN system can become impossible.
Alongside upgrading from analogue lines, many consumers may also need to upgrade their broadband services and any other equipment which currently operates on the legacy system, such as ADSL, FTTC & G.Fast.
Analogue systems are services which have provided the foundation for both broadband and voice connections for many years, but it won’t be available for much longer.
In three months time ‘Stop Sell’ comes into play - and all sales of copper-based lines will cease, leaving many businesses at risk from catching up if they don’t upgrade their tech now.
From September analogue telephone systems will no longer be available to buy for new supply, as well as the introduction of restrictions for the migration of the services.
Businesses who have not upgraded their systems in time before the Stop Sell, will seriously struggle to provide voice services, as well as risking issues affecting broadband.
Companies need to ensure they are future-proofing their services, else risk falling behind and be unable to get back on board with systems such as changing broadband capacity and increase/decrease ISDN lines.
Those businesses who are currently providing legacy copper-based services are being urged to act now and upgrade all plans before the Stop Sell is introduced.
Failing to upgrade could potentially lead to falling behind competitors, with a significant loss in business, revenue & paying clients along with a huge increase in pricing, as wholesale prices of Stop Sell products will be rapidly increasing.
Juliet Moran, founder of TelephoneSystems.Cloud said: “We are urging all businesses who haven’t already to upgrade their phone systems and connectivity before sales halt completely in September. This is now a three month warning to all business owners to upgrade your old analogue systems imminently else risk seeing your business fall behind become a reality."
“But not upgrading before the Stop Sell deadline in September seriously risks your business falling behind from your competitors and large price jumps - potentially leading to loss of customers and revenue."
“The risk is huge should a service get accidently cancelled, or the need for growth occurs, as old services can no longer be brought back online and systems will no longer be able to expand."
“If you’re not upgrading from your analogue telephone system before the deadline in September, providers will no longer be able to support your businesses which currently rely on these legacy systems.